Fido Roaming charges even when Data selected to another network

[AsharTareen]

I had to travel on a family emergency outside of Canada. I have a Samsung Note 9 which has dual Sim option available which I used by procuring a local Sim from my destination. In order to not get roaming charges, I had selected Data as from the local Sim, but kept Calls and Texts as from the Fido Sim. However, I have time and again been getting welcome messages from Fido and have incurred CAD 14 for every day I got those messages. I am unable to understand why am I still getting those charges, even though I am not calling or texting anyone from the Fido Sim, nor am using any Data since that option has not been selected from my mobile. What gives? Why am I being charged unnecessarily?

[Cawtau]

Hello AsharTareen,

  Sorry to hear of your family emergency.

  You should note that while incoming SMS does not incur the roaming charge, any data within a MMS (incoming or outgoing) would be considered roaming data and therefore incur roaming fees. Generally, I don't think that Welcoming message should have incurred the Fido Roam charge. However, I cannot be certain that message was not a MMS message.

  I understand you have a local SIM for data usage. However, I don't think the data within a MMS can be transmitted via another SIM. It would have to be transmitted via the Fido SIM. It would be similar to why MMS does not transmit via Wifi (unless Wifi-calling enabled). They are on separate networks. If your phone is supported for Wifi-calling, you should also note that some of its usage is also considered roaming and would be charge appropriately.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[AsharTareen]

Thank you for the information, Cawtau.

All these SMSs and emails came when I was not receiving any MMS, nor sending/receiving any calls. I had already turned data roaming off and selected my local Sim for data usage. Even then, I got the welcome SMS and email and found out I was charged on all occassions.

Not sure why Fido is forcing charges in this manner, connecting to a local network must not mean I'm using the said network for anything, but being charged CAD 14 every time it automatically connects is just abhorrent.

[Cawtau]

Hello again,

  Thank you for the additional information. Fido would only charge for actual usage on the Fido SIM.

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@AsharTareen wrote:..Even then, I got the welcome SMS and email and found out I was charged on all occassions...

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  To clarify, the Welcome message doesn't necessarily mean that you've incurred any roaming charges. It should only notify you that your phone (and Fido SIM) connected to a foreign network. It would be usage of your services which incurs the roaming charge. Are you sure you actually incurred roaming charges?

  I understand you have your phone set to use data on the local SIM. However, it's possible that the phone is not actually behaving as it is meant to operate. Doing some research, I found an issue with the dual-SIM Note 9 which could account for the roaming usage (see here). I do not know the extent of the issue, but it doesn't appear there is a fix for the issue. It's also possible that the issue also exists on other phone models as well. You might consider verifying which SIM is actually using data.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers